Motor vehicle crashes are a leading cause of death and injury in the United States. Despite several types of safety equipment currently used to prevent crash-related deaths and mitigate crash-related injuries, more than 35,000 people died in vehicle crashes on United States roads in 2015, with an additional 2.4 million people suffering traffic crash-related injuries during the same period.
The safety of automobile occupants generally relies upon the use of seat belts. Seat belts prevent the wearer from being thrown around the interior of a crashing vehicle. They also absorb some of the force that would be otherwise directed against the body of the seat belt wearer. However, seat belts are not always used by vehicle occupants. Many crash-related deaths and injuries are attributed to the failure to use seat belts, particularly among children.
But even if used faithfully, seat belts provide imperfect protection. For example, seat belts spread the force of impact over larger areas of the body, but can create accident-related injuries at the locations where they contact the body.
When the seat belt does not fit the wearer properly or is poorly adjusted, the effectiveness of the seat belt decreases. Children are particularly subject to risks posed by incorrectly fitted seat belts. Furthermore, seat belts found in standard automobiles are generally designed for adult-sized occupants. For children in particular, seat belts may not be adjustable to configurations best suited for smaller occupants.
Most states now require that children of a certain age or size be placed in child restraint systems to protect small children during motor crashes. However, there remains disagreement as to the most effective design for such restraint systems and surveys show that consumers frequently fail to use the child restraint systems properly, leading to a greater number of injuries to children in automobile crashes. A major problem that underlies failures of seat belts and child restraint systems relates to systems that fit their wearers poorly. Poorly-fitting child restraint systems may be ineffective in protecting children from crash-related injuries. There is a need for a restraint system that disperses force during a crash and can be adjusted to the configuration that provides maximum protection to each wearer while simultaneously allowing the wearer a degree of mobility to the upper body for the sake of comfort.
There is a need for a restraint system that can be adjusted to accommodate changes in the height or girth of a user, for example, due to growth, weight gain, or weight loss. It would be advantageous to be able to use the same restraint system for a child at all stages of development. There is also a need for a restraint system that can be adjusted to accommodate different amounts or layers of clothing. For example, it would be advantageous to be able to use the same restraint system for a child on during a winter vacation. The same restraint system could be used for the child wearing heavy, bulky cold-weather clothing as he leaves his winter home, and for the same child wearing lighter clothing in a warm-weather destination.
There is a particular need for restraint systems that can be easily adjusted by consumers for use with a variety of wearers. For example, in order to safely transport minor travelers, the operators of commercial vehicles, such as a plane, train, or taxi, may need restraint systems that can accommodate passengers of a variety of sizes. It may be particularly advantageous for a commercial vehicle operator to possess an adjustable restraint system that can be meet the vehicle safety restraint requirements for a child of nearly any age or size.
There is also a need for a restraint system that can be adjusted to secure the wearer to the seats of a variety of vehicles. Some vehicles, such as many modern automobiles, use a lap seat belt and a shoulder seat belt to secure passengers. Some vehicles, such as some older automobiles, use a lap seat belt and a tether line, where the tether line attaches to the shoulders of a restraint system and to the automobile. Yet other vehicles, such as many airplanes, have seats that use only lap seat belts. It would be particularly advantageous for the same restraint system to be usable with all three types of vehicles.
Further, it would be advantageous for a restraint system to include an additional structure for anchoring the back of the restraint, for example, a structure for fastening a supplemental belt or strap to the back portion of the restraint system and using the belt to secure the back portion of the restraint system to the seat, independently of the seat belt system of the vehicle. Such a structure could provide an extra way to secure the restraint system, making the restraint system more secure. Such a supplemental structure can be particularly advantageous in situations where another seat belt or other restraining structure suddenly malfunctions or fails to operate.
There is also a need for a restraint system that can be used with different seat belt systems in different commercial vehicles associated with mass transportation, such as buses, school buses, trains, and airplanes.
For restraint systems used with the seat belt systems in vehicles, one size does not fit all. There is a need for an adjustable restraint system that can accommodate the changing needs of individual wearers. There is also a different need for an adjustable restraint system that can be used for a variety of different individual wearers and in different vehicles with different seat belt systems.